The number of west-central Illinois children living in poverty has continued to increase since 2010, with counties in the region ranging from 15 percent to 24.8 percent for 2011-2013.

The annual Kids Count data, released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, shows that each county in the region increased, showing the growing number of children who are living in poverty.

The highest percentage of students in poverty live in Pike County, where 24.8 percent of children are living under the poverty line.

Anna Rowan, the Kids Count manager for Voices for Illinois Children — the organization that supplies the data — said the growing number of children in poverty is concerning.

“We haven’t made any progress since 2010, which was the last year of the recession,” Rowan said.

In Illinois, 20.8 percent of children, or more than 500,000 children, are living in poverty.

Jersey and Brown counties are among the lowest in the region with about 15 percent of their children living in poverty during the 2011-2013 timeframe.

While still less than other counties in the region, Scott County saw one of the largest increases in the region, up 2 percent to 17.9 percent.

Morgan County also saw a larger increase from 20.8 percent in 2010-2012 to 22 percent.

Despite the growing numbers of children in poverty, Krista Kunz, the homeless program coordinator with the Regional Office of Education 1, said the number of children receiving services through the homeless program has remained constant for the last several years.

Kunz said the students who participate in the program are students who do not have a stable home, which can include living in a shelter, living with another family or family members or often switching homes.

“About 10 percent of all the kids who receive free or reduced lunch in a district can become homeless,” Kunz said.

Kunz said it is difficult to get accurate numbers of students in these situations because families and children will often keep their situation to themselves.

“We can just try to do what we can, use what we can the best we can and in the best ways for our children in our schools,” Kunz said.

Rowan said the only way to decrease the number of children in poverty is to find ways of helping families better themselves and find the ways to support themselves.

Things such as the earned-income tax credit are a step in the right direction, but Rowan said programs such as educational programs, child care assistance, wage stagnation are all things that could help decrease the poverty levels and give families a boost.

“There’s not really a silver bullet to end poverty,” she said. “It’ll take different investments in programs.”

Rowan said she is expecting these trends to continue for the next several years, as many social organizations are affected by the state’s budget problems.

“We haven’t seen the effects of the state’s budget problems yet,” Rowan said. “Because the numbers only go to 2015, we’re not sure what it’ll look like. We’ve had more anecdotal evidence, we’ve heard the stories about organizations limiting or canceling services. We’ve seen a lot of hurt around the state, we just haven’t quantified that yet.”

Other percentages:

About 21.3 percent of the Cass County children are living in poverty, a slight increase of 0.2 percent from 2010-2012.

Greene County saw an increase of 0.6 percent to 22.1 percent for children living in poverty.

Macoupin County has a rate of 20.3 percent, a 0.5 percent increase from 2010-2012.

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha.